Spirit hoping to bounce back and earn Canada Cup rematch

Spirit hoping to bounce back and earn Canada Cup rematch

Jul 17, 2017

Aussie Spirit Head Coach Fabian Barlow is not giving up on his team winning the Canada Cup, despite a disappointing loss to Japan in Surrey, British Columbia.

Having earned the double chance with some strong performances earlier in the tournament, the Australians still have a chance to make the final. To do so they will have to beat Venezuela in the early game tomorrow.

If they can achieve that, the Spirit will earn a rematch against tournament favourites Japan, who flexed their muscle against the Aussies today and won 14-2 to advance to the final.

Barlow was encouraged that his team did not crumble against Japan despite falling a long way behind early.

“We got off to a bad start today against Japan but we displayed some resilience in the batter’s box, scoring runs in the first inning and loading the bases in the second.” he said.

“Obviously their lead got too big and it was game over pretty quick.”

But Barlow said the Spirit have not given up hope of getting another chance and turning the tables on the top-ranked team. “Due to early wins in the tournament we have given ourselves a second chance to make the final and we will look to take advantage tomorrow afternoon in the semi-final to try and get another shot at Japan.”

The Spirit used three pitchers – Kaia Parnaby, Ellen Roberts and Simone Freeman – against Japan, but none could stop the offensive onslaught. Japan had 13 hits to Australia’s six in a game that ended after three innings.

Leigh Godfrey was the best of the Spirit batters, collecting two hits and scoring a run. Stacey Porter, Clare Warwick, Belinda White and Erin Thras each had one hit. Warwick and White each had an RBI.